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Mothers often report that breastfeeding is an enjoyable and emotionally beneficial experience they share with their infants. However, little research has investigated the role of feeding method in the development of the maternal bond and the mother-infant relationship. This study tested two hypotheses-the bonding hypothesis and the good-enough caregiver hypothesis-regarding the association of breastfeeding with maternal bonding and the mother-infant relationship. Using data from a longitudinal study of 570 mother-infant pairs, bonding and the quality of the mother-infant relationship were measured at 4 and 12 months. Although breastfeeding dyads tended to show higher quality relationships at 1 2 months, bottlefeeding dyads did not display poor quality or precarious relationships. Such results are encouraging for nonmaternal caregivers and mothers who botflefeed their children.
Researchers have become increasingly interested in the physiological and immunological aspects of breast milk while largely ignoring the psychological experience of breastfeeding. Although nursing mothers report that feedings furnish not only nutritional but also social and psychological nourishment for them and their infants (Newton, 1971; Newton & Newton, 1967; Wiesenfeld, Malatesta, Whitman, Granrose, & Uili, 1985), the possible link of breastfeeding to the development of maternal bonding and the mother-infant relationship has received little research. The present study addresses the role of breastfeeding compared with bottlefeeding in the development of the maternal bond and the relationship of the mother-infant dyad. Two alternative theoretical models frame the research: the bonding hypothesis and the good-enough caregiving hypothesis.
Following Kennell and Klaus (1998), the term bond refers to the emotional connection of the mother to her infant. The function of bonding behaviors is to maintain proximity of the mother to her infant (Maestripieri, 2001a). Originally, bonding theorists argued that, for an optimal bond to develop, physical contact between the mother and infant must occur early in the postpartum period (Klaus et al., 1972). It is at this particular time when maternal oxytocin circulation (as a component of labor) is at its peak, and some research has shown that at times when central oxytocin levels are high in women, they are predisposed to form bonds and display affiliative behavior (Carter, 1998; Klaus, 1998; Kennell & Klaus, 1998). Numerous studies in nonhuman animals have shown that maternal behavior can be mediated by the peptide hormone (Kendrick,...